A 65-year-old California convict who pleaded guilty to two New England cold cases dating back to the 1980s on Tuesday will spend the rest of his life in prison in Vermont, according to the Berkshire County District Attorney’s Office.
David Allen Morrison pleaded guilty to the 1981 kidnapping of then-15-year-old Laura Sheridan in Lanesborough, Massachusetts, in Berkshire County Superior Court, the district attorney’s office said previously. He also pleaded guilty to the 1986 murder of 32-year-old Sarah Hunter in Bennington County, Vermont, Tuesday afternoon.
Morrison has been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for Hunter’s murder, and has waived his right to appeal the sentence, the district attorney’s office said in a press release Wednesday. He will serve an existing prison sentence for crimes committed in California and the two to four years he was sentenced to for kidnapping Sheridan concurrently.
“While I am thrilled with this outcome, I cannot imagine what Laura, Laura’s family and Sarah’s family must be feeling. They have waited almost 40 years to find answers to the violent acts committed against them and their loved ones,” Berkshire County District Attorney Timonthy Shugrue said during a press conference Wednesday.
“While I am certain yesterday’s plea hearings were difficult, I also hope this long overdue day of justice brings some closure to the horrific experiences they faced.”
Morrison was imprisoned in California for decades before being extradited to Massachusetts in November, the district attorney’s office said. He was previously convicted on charges including kidnapping with a firearm and rape, and had been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Morrison was motivated to plead guilty to Hunter’s murder and Sheridan’s kidnapping after realizing it was unlikely that he’d be granted parole in California, The Bennington Banner reported. In July 2024, he decided to confess to the two crimes in the hopes of serving out a life sentence close to his relatives in his home state of Vermont.
A complex agreement between law enforcement and government officials in Massachusetts, Vermont and California eventually led to transfer to New England, the district attorney’s office said.
The kidnapping of Laura Sheridan
Morrison abducted Sheridan on June 23, 1981, while the teen was attempting to travel home to New Ashford, the district attorney’s office said. She told police she encountered him after riding to the end of a bus line in Lanesborough and deciding to hitchhike the rest of the way. Morrison stopped to offer Sheridan a ride, and she accepted.
At first, nothing seemed amiss. But partway through the drive, Morrison stopped to grab a paper bag out of his trunk, the district attorney’s office said. He placed the bag between himself and Sheridan, then continued driving towards her house.
Morrison initially slowed the car as they approached the house, then suddenly began accelerating past it, the district attorney’s office said. As he removed a handgun from the paper bag and began loading it with bullets, Sheridan begged him not to kidnap her.
When her pleas failed, Sheridan began trying to wrestle the gun away from Morrison, the district attorney’s office said. She eventually managed to get ahold of the gun, but he grabbed her by her hair and pulled her downward.
The struggle for the gun caused Morrison to swerve in the roadway, and he soon pulled over at a rest area on Route 7, the district attorney’s office said. Sheridan managed to escape from the car during the stop, and ran into the middle of the road where a driver stopped to help her.
“I’m grateful that I spent 20 minutes with David Morrison and escaped,” Sheridan said during the Wednesday press conference. “Having a daughter now, I would share this with any woman: fight back.”
Later that year, Morrison was tried on assault and illegal gun charges in connection with the kidnapping, The Berkshire Eagle reported. But during the trial, the defense successfully discredited Sheridan, and a jury found him not guilty.
The murder of Sarah Hunter
Five years later, Hunter — a golf pro living in Manchester, Vermont — was reported missing by her coworker on Sept. 19, 1986, after she unexpectedly didn’t show up for her shift, the district attorney’s office said. Her body was discovered in a wooded area of a nearby town over two months later.
Morrison became the prime suspect in Hunter’s murder early-on in the investigation, and in 2012, he was finally charged in the case, The Bennington Banner reported. But as Bennington County State’s Attorney Erica Marthage prepared for his trial in 2015, mishandling of evidence in the case was discovered, and she was forced to dismiss the case against him.
In 2023, Massachusetts and Vermont State Police investigators began developing new evidence linking Morrison to Sheridan’s kidnapping and Hunter’s murder, the Banner reported.
In May 2024, he was indicted on a kidnapping charge in connection with Sheridan’s abduction, the district attorney’s office said. He confessed to both the kidnapping and Hunter’s murder two months later from his prison cell in California.
Morrison told investigators he abducted Hunter on a whim when she came into the Manchester, Vermont, gas station he was working at at the time, the newspaper reported. He had never met her before.
Morrison said he restrained Hunter with rope and forced her into the trunk of his car with the intention of sexually assaulting her, but was stymied by cars passing by, the Banner reported. He ultimately stabbed her to death with a pair of scissors, then disposed of her body and the murder weapon in the woods.
“Sarah was a beloved daughter, sister, and aunt. She worked as a golf pro and was known of her kind nature,” the district attorney’s office press release reads. “An annual golf tournament continues to be held in her honor.”
